the climb to mighty frazier - part 1

10272012 0741 well edison and i are once again off to an adventure. edison has been my constant companion for almost 8 months now with 14,900+ miles to boot. we'd have our share of drivetrain malfunctions, 3x to be exact but so far trouble-free in the last 3.5 months and 7K miles. range anxiety has but disappeared; however, separation anxiety is always in the back of my mind. but so far so good!

10272012 0825 my climb to Frazier was an idea I hatched just a few days ago. this weekend is the worldwide CQ contest. although I am not an avid ham radio operator, my brothers are and well, I'm married to a ham after all. they want to recreate the good old days of roughing it 16 years ago at the same location saying repeatedly and incessantly, "CQ CQ DX," sans being snowed in. this is their trip. although i am not one to rough it, i thought of making this trip mine too, perhaps a family affair with my grumbling teenage boy and my enthusiastic bubbly loving 9-yr old baby. my husband thinks I'm crazy. what do you know, he speaks the truth!

gears were whirring in my head as I planned out this climb. I could go to Kohls or Nissan in Valencia for a charge. i picked up the phone and dialed Nissan, got the GM on the line, Daniel, his name is, to ask for permission to charge at their dealership. graciously, he said look for Junior at the service area by 8am Saturday morning and I should be able to top off before the climb. weather forecast is typical SoCal temp of 55-68 degrees. Frazier peak is towering at 8,091 feet ASL, from Valencia a distance 40.6 miles and 6,841 ft gain climb. it's perfectly doable starting from 99% SOC.

i don't think this climb is by any means a record breaking feat for an EV but perhaps for the BMW ActiveE it is. correct me if I am wrong though, my fellow electronauts. my inspiration, you might ask? our dear old jack brown of NorCal, who dared to trek from the bay area to LA in a day!!! true to our electronaut tradition, he will always be my hero.

now as I sit here at Mimi's cafe eating and blogging at the same time, I feel very blessed. not only is Edison sipping on juice courtesy of Nissan, I was also chauffeured here by Junior; he even offered to pick me up once Edison is fully charged. wow, red carpet treatment!!! so let me just give a shout out to NISSAN OF VALENCIA. you guys ROCK!!! I realize that we, in the EV community, have come a long way in this movement. in just as little as a few years ago, dealerships won't even bat an eye in saying, "no you can't charge here 'cause you did not buy your car here!" it's been an amazing journey to get to where we are now. when I get atop Frazier peak, I will breath it all in. our dream, our movement, our passion is becoming a reality: to a cleaner, healthier, quieter world!

see you at the peak!!! part 2 coming soon...

namaste,
M

10272012 1035 SOC 99% time to call junior. I'm so spoiled!